Greenwald, Teammates Still Working Hard Lauderdale Lakes Gymnast Qualifies For National Meet

August 20, 1986|By ROBERT LOHRER, Staff Writer

On a hot afternoon in a warehouse-turned-gym, Mark Greenwald arched his back into a reverse planche. It was a manuever that makes non-gymnasts wonder whether gymnasts are invertebrates.

Yes, of course, Greenwald, 16, of Lauderdale Lakes has a spine. At 5-foot-2, he walks straight and upright. And these days he has a lot to be proud of.

Greenwald finished seventh out of 31 competitors in the overall exercises on the first day of competition at the AAU/USA Junior Olympic Games in St. Louis earlier this month. He qualified for the national event with a first-place finish at the Florida Gold Coast Association AAU/USA championships at the American Twisters Gymnastics Academy in Pompano Beach.

At the national meet, his first-day performance in the all-around was strong enough to earn him a spot in the finals in three events.

Competing against in the 15-19 age group, he finished third in the floor exercises, fifth on parallel bars, eighth on pommel horse, 10th on rings, 12th on vault and 14th on horizontal bars.

Greenwald`s coach, Skip Basiel, was impressed. ``He improved a lot,`` Basiel said. ``Two years ago in Jacksonville he didn`t make the finals in any event.``

But for a gymnast like Greenwald, whose competitive career lasts but a few frames on life`s reel, it is only the beginning.

In the next year, Greenwald, who will be a junior at Nova High School, will try to make a mark on the Class I gymnastics level. He`ll try to qualify for the USGF national competition. As his senior year in high school approaches, he`ll try to catch the attention of a college coach.

``Now that I`m this close, I`m going to start pushing for a college scholarship,`` Greenwald said.

That would make so much worthwhile -- the workouts after school from 6 p.m. to 9, the workouts twice a week with Basiel at the Holiday Park gym and the exhausting five-hour rituals this summer in the American Twisters gym that is ventilated by screened garage door openings.

``Actually, I like working out in the heat,`` Greenwald said. ``I really don`t like air-conditioned gyms.``

If the workouts have been strenuous, the misery has been eased by company.

Curt Evans, 12, and John Guydosik, 12, of Coral Springs have been as diligent as Greenwald in recent months.

Guydosik and Evans also competed in St. Louis. Guydosik, who has been a gymnast for only 1 1/2 years, took 10th place on the parallel bars and 13th on the high bar and vault. Evans` performance was highlighted when he finished 14th on the high bar.

Greenwald developed his interest in gymnasticswhen he and his older brother, Glenn, used to hold head stand competitions at home. For the last nine years, Greenwald has been learning and training under more formal circumstances.

He had been a gymnast long before the sport was glamorized in the 1984 summer Olympics. ``I was already motivated by then,`` he said.

And he continues to be highly motivated. Greenwald is serious and unassuming as he goes about his routine at the American Twisters gymnasium.

These days he works at performing the same moves on different pieces of apparatus, which is a large part of the challenge for a male gymnast.

``Take your basic handstand,`` Greenwald explained. ``First you learn it on the floor. Then you try it on the parallel bars. Then on the rings. The rings are the toughest place to do it. Other moves are related the same way.``

Basiel says that Greenwald must build upon the foundation. ``He has a real good basic repertoire,`` Basiel said. ``He needs to be able to build upon that to be able to handle competition at the national level.

``In order to get a scholarship he needs more national exposure,`` Basiel said. ``There are quite a few skills he has to pick up and there are higher difficulty elements.``

The meet in St. Louis may represent a critical juncture.

Said Basiel, ``The fact that he made it to the finals in this meet is a start.``